


Ice Scream, You scream

by Elyssian



Category: RWBY
Genre: TW: Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-09
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-19 08:05:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5960127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elyssian/pseuds/Elyssian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Till death do us part,<br/>Oh may it never do us part.</p><p>(Roman without Neo, and a short snippet of Neo without Roman.</p><p> Later, Neo and Roman in a possible after and a before.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Roman

Roman crawls out of Grimm dust and right into smoke and ashes.

He coughs, chokes and calls out for Neo. He reaches for a hand, a voiceless pillar and his fingers close around empty, flame licked air. His gloves burn into his skin and Roman shifts his body away from the smoking metal walls of Ironwood's ship. He manages a flop to his side and stares out a busted window into Grimm infested skies, rushing past as the ship hurtles into a Grimm wrought Vale.

Roman cracks a smile into his bloodied face. Neo will come and find him later. For now, he lets the jarring impact of the crash black him out.

* * *

 

Roman has woken up to pretty bad things before, like Cinder's heel on his throat and a beer bottle crashing around his ears. A half naked enemy general is new low though.

“ _Jesus_ general cyborg put on a shirt. I know I'm a hell of a specimen but really honey, all the metal is a turn off.”

Ironwood's face barely twitches from resignation to weak disgust and _is that fucking worry?_

“I will be arresting you and taking you to a secure hospital once this situation is under control.”

Roman blinks and tries to smirk. Ow, no. Jaw's broken.

“A hospital?”

Ironwood pointedly looks down. Roman's eyes follow.

Shrapnel peppering his coat, dark with blood from where they've pinned his skin underneath. The hull under him has peeled away, exposing skeletal frame work that has warped away and spiked up. One steel rib has speared his arm, mangling it beyond recognition. Another has gone in between his lowest rib and his second lowest. (How is he breathing again?)

“Nah this is fine. Neo will come get me later.”

Roman flicks his cane, remembers it's not there and flicks his hand instead.

“Just be on your merry way and die with the rest of your army.”

Ironwood raises an unamused eyebrow but leaves. It's not like Roman can go anywhere.

* * *

 

“Little Red, Little Red.”

He blacked out a little there. Might have been the pain, might have been the blood loss, might have been the crap in his lungs. Hell, it was probably all three. But when he came to, surprise surprise, Little Red was beside him.

“I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say, you're the spectre of my death? My grim reaper, hell's unforgiving angel?”

“Nope. That's me.”

Wow, Roman's got the scythe squad. Little Red came with her bigger, male version. Her meaner looking version.

The man's a little bit deadlier, a little more rugged and rank so heavily of bad alcohol Roman was surprised the fires hadn't caught him but he'd take anyone over Little Red right now. Preferably Neo. But Little Red got in the way _so screw her._

“Who're you?”

“Name's Qrow Branwen. I'm the uncle who's gonna murder you.”

“Jeez, what'd I'd ever do to you?”

Roman is pretty sure he'd remember pissing of a drunk huntsman with a scythe 1.5 times his height. That's would've been memorable. Also Roman would've died. Or Neo would've killed him.

He zeroes in with too much intensity for a drunkard. Roman's gonna call him Big Bad from now on.

“Like I said, I'm her uncle.”

Ah. Roman may or may not distinctly remember bludgeoning someone in blackout rage with his cane. _Whoops._

“Nice attitude. You single?”

“I don't take dead guys on dates in the Grimm apocalypse.”

“Shame.”

Roman pauses to sputter some blood out his airway. It's never good to sputter in a conversation. Especially not for a conversationalist like him. (With a partner like Neo, someone's gotta fill the lull in the conversation.)

He heard a sob somewhere. To his left? Left… lower left? He nudged the unmoving pile of red at his feet with a wince.

“What are you doing Little Red?”

“I'm sorry.”

She tumbled out a tattered umbrella into his lap.

“Oh you came with Neo. Good, good. Where is she?”

Little Red looked so distraught Roman got confused.

“Seriously. A guy can't do much evil without his partner. Where's Neo?”

Red bursts into tears. A three second flood of emotions.

“Aw fuck. Ruby? Come back to me kid.”

Big Bad scooped the teeny huntress into his arms and they started moving away, leaving Roman in confusion.

Where the hell is Neo?

He lifted his good hand into his lap and fingered the lattice umbrella through a burnt glove and burnt skin. His blood, baked dry, made a splotch sound against the wet mix of Neo's remains and Red's tears. Neo got her while Roman was picking out his Melodic Cudgel. Bloody hassled him into getting it. And it was either Roman paying, or Neo killing, so. He got it for her. Told Neo it was five years worth of birthday presents. (He still ended up getting her birthday ice cream for the next five years.)

Neo never parted with her umbrella. You might think she doesn't have it, but bam, illusion. Roman almost didn't recognise the umbrella when it wasn't in Neo's hand. Well it was technically in her hand at the moment. Arm was there too. The problem was a lack of Neo attached to the arm. Just a little bit of torso, like she got snapped up by a Nevermore when she went overboard into an aerial sea of the bastards. Which she did, because _someone fucking opened her umbrella._

_Go past denial and straight into rage,_

Qrow heard the skin and muscle tear away from metal and swiftly moved sideways. The figure hurtled past and crashed into the ground, crumpling in a heap of broken bones.

“You killed her. Fuck you Red, you killed Neo. You fucking killed-”

Ruby sobbed harder and Qrow gritted his teeth.

“-Neo, Neo, Neo-”

“You wanna see her again?”

“-Wh-what?”

Roman blinked and teetered backwards. The nozzle of Qrow's weapon followed him.

“You wanna see her again?”

_Go past rage and skip the bargains, cuz Roman honey, you ain't winning any bargains here._

Roman eased and looked at the scythe.

“Please.”

Qrow fired.


	2. Neo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neo's short snippet (Its shortness upsets even me.)

**“Neo!”**

Neo gasps in freezing wind and feels panicked blood burst to life under her skin. Adrenaline surged and dragged her mind forward.

 _Gotta land, gotta land, gotta land_.

She snapped the umbrella shut and went into a three second free-fall before hitting a Nevermore in the back. It reared and bucked with screams, screams Neo could've matched if she had a voice. She drove her umbrella into the Grimm and held on as it nosedived.

(Outside her vision, a Griffin sniffed the air, picked out the tails of vehemence and turned towards the ship.)

* * *

 

The Nevermore exploded upon landing, blasting Neo up and into the street. She landed softly with a roll and at the feet of a huntress.

“Are you alright?”

Neo's head snapped up and- _Goodwitch_. She jumped and ran.

“Student! Wait!”

Student? She must have thought… well that suits Neo just fine. She needs to find Roman.

Neo looked up and saw the ship go down burning.

* * *

 

_Neo: Landed safe, how are you?_

_  
Neo: Saw the ship go down, did you blow it up?_

_  
Neo: Where did you land?_

_  
Neo: Roman?_

_  
Neo: If you can't type just press the speed dial or send a voice message._

_  
Neo: Just beep me Roman._

_  
Neo: Send a K or and Ok._

_  
Neo: Or send that ice cream emoji._

_  
Neo: Or send the one you like so much._

_  
Neo: Roman?_

_  
Neo: Roman I found your hat._

_  
Neo: I found Melodic Cudgel._

_  
Neo: Where are you?_

* * *

 

Neo found Roman curled in the remains of a Griffin. She tutted. Going to sleep in the middle of a battle? He must not have slept much in prison.

Neo looked out at the sea of fire, Grimm, ruins and corpses. Well, Cinder seemed to have her plan under control. Neo and Roman weren't needed at the moment. They could afford a little nap.

Neo pointed her umbrella at her head and fired.

* * *

 

_ Neo: Found you! _


	3. Back to my place?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhere in the past, Neo and Romn meet and things go wonderfully.

Neo found Roman in the niche of an alley.

He wasn't even twenty yet then, and neither was she, but he was already wiping away blood from his face and hiding bruises from a transaction gone wrong. (She had been wiping blood away too, from her suit and from her knife.)

Roman had looked at her warily and flinched when she extended a hand. She had tilted her head in confusion, and he had mirrored her when she pointed to remains of a thin jacket. He narrowed his eyes at her and flung the cloth.

“Take it.”

She took it, and started tearing it into strips she could use for the gunshot wound in her shoulder. She was half way into a clumsy bandage when he moved forward and moved her hands.

“You're doing it wrong.”

And Roman had, willed by a force he could not understand, patched up the tiny girl's shoulder inperfect folds and brought her home.

(Maybe it's the tiredness. The never ache that comes from being alone in your head. Maybe it's just that, maybe it's just him.)

* * *

 

‘Home’ was a one room flat, a pathetic mattress pushed up against a wall, a fire escape outside heavily curtained windows and a concrete floor carpeted in papers. Neo had pulled out one and scrawled her name on it when Roman asked.

“Neopolitan? Okay, from now on you're Neo.”

She pondered, then nodded and pointed at him.

“Roman. I haven't picked out a last name yet but I feel like going with something sharp.”

He'd fed her some bread after that and she'd cleaned up some of Roman's gigantic mess of tabs. Then they dropped into sleep, half on the mattress and half on the paper carpet.

* * *

 

They woke up to banging at the door.

“We know you're in there Roman! Hand over the last of the goods if you know what's good for you.”

Roman and Neo blinked at each other in bleary half light of dawn. When the banging persisted, Roman squeezed his eyes shut and groaned.

“If you climb out the fire escape when I distract this guy you'll probably live.”

Neo blinked sleepily.

“Fire escape, go.”

Roman pulled her up with him and he pushed her out the window with hushes. Once he was sure she was gone, he padded loudly over to the door and creaked it open.

The thug's body fell inwards with the door.

Roman blinked, looked down to the blood puddling his feet and looked back up to where Neo was smiling sweetly at him, a knife delicately flipping her fingers.

“How did you- that was fast you know?”

Neo nodded, still smiling and questioningly pointed at the body.

“Just let me get some stuff and I'll set the building on fire. It's mostly empty, the fire alarm will scramble the hobos into enough of a commotion.”

And so Roman set his ‘home’ on fire, taking only a tattered sling bag and he took off with Neo over the rooftops, sirens and crumbling walls in the background.

“So where to Neo?”

She bobbed ahead excitedly and pointed at herself.

“Your place?”

She nodded. Roman shrugged. Might as well.

* * *

 

Neo's place is a giant cliche. It's a- get this- an abandoned ice cream parlour. Their most advertised flavour, according to the split sign that had been used to board up half a window, was Neopolitan ice cream.

“You named yourself after the ice cream flavour?”

She looked at him wryly.

“Okay, it's fine by me.”

Neo's bed is made up of bags of tiny styrofoam balls, styrofoam, cardboard and tucked in with sheets that Roman wagers were once over the ice cream shelves. Roman tests it and maybe it's because he's still kinda fuck ass tired but it feels more comfortable than his old mattress. Neo finds his train of thought agreeable and they both crash into the mess and don't wake up until sunset.

* * *

(It's because they were tired, he reasons later. They melted into each other and when they settled they couldn't seperate anymore.)

* * *

 

Because spending the entire first date in dreamland is bad form, Roman plays twenty questions with Neo when they've both woken up, doused their faces in cold water from the still working tap in the bathroom and stolen some rice from a food court a block away.

Neo gets first go and points the ground and at Roman.

“Sorry, what?”

Neo taps at the sheet over the bed, where ‘Vale's best ice cream parlour’ is inked in faded blue. She taps the ‘Vale’ part and points at Roman.

“I was born in Vale. Been in Vale my whole life.”

She nods with another smile, this one pleased, and motions to him.

“How come you don't talk?”

Pretty rude for his first question, but Roman was damnably curious at this point. Neo beckoned him forward, and once he leaned forward she pointed to a faded, practically invisible scar at the base of her throat.

“Huh. Okay, your turn.”

* * *

 

They play twenty questions for a whole week until Roman runs out to earn money by dealing and Neo runs out to earn money by killing.

Roman learns that Neo's never actually tasted ice cream. She loves pink. She loves killing. She has a wonderful semblance. She went to the Mistral border once. She works as a bodyguard.

Neo learns that Roman's parents are the streets; he was practically born on the asphalt. He's never been anywhere else but the streets. Roman's semblance is the epitome of ‘screwed up’. Roman's been working in dust rings recently. And he can't find out why going home to an ice cream parlour and a mute girl feels so right.

* * *

 

The universe apparently thinks it's right too.

Roman gets treated to a timely coincidence that ends up with him murdering a minor gang's boss and Neo at his side. Then they promptly shoot up the crime ladder.

It's like they're unstoppable when they're together. They're so well balanced, so damn perfect it scares the world and it scares them. Because they the universe doesn't give out free candy.

There comes a time when the ice cream parlour and Vale become a bad mix of boring and dangerous. They hop on a train and within three days they've got a nice place in the forgotten hidden attic of a theatre in Mistral.

Drastic? Very. Fun? Very, very much.

They lie low for a while, go back to stealing food but Mistral's lungfuls of fresh air. It's different and no one knows them. Which means they can but things with their stolen money and not have to deal with cops.

Neo bought him a bowler hat. It was some kind of joke Roman hadn't really caught on to but he wore it anyway for the smiles.

Roman bought Neo gloves. Why? He didn't know. To match what she bought him he supposed.

They start wrecking havoc in Mistral after a month of fidgeting and they start going back up the crime ladder.


	4. Will o Wisp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on tumblr's headcanons on Roman's semblance. It was several people. I'm sorry I can't remember exactly who -_-'
> 
> A possible future where BOTH survive (kinda)

Roman was pretty aware of the award his semblance got once he discovered it. It was shiny little plaque that read ‘ _greatest joke in the universe'._

Why?

Because to activate it, Roman had to _die._

Which leads him to make a speech on how the universe screwed him over before he actually did anything, and therefore he had the damn right to screw the universe over for the rest of his life.

But the universe doesn't take too kindly to even playing fields. Miss Universe kills people who get even. She kills them with painful irony.

Roman gets eaten by griffin Grimm.

Fucking irony.

“Look on the bright side Neo, I'm technically still here.”

Neo sniffles and gives him a dubious look. He tosses her as much of a grin as he can, and swishes her umbrella through his ethereal form.

Across the room, Mercury unfreezes and runs out yelling for Emerald.

“Emerald! Roman's turned into a ghost!”

“What?”

Roman giggles and the floating wisp of orange flame that forms his current body flickers.

“We're gonna have such a great time scaring those kids.”

Neo giggles too, then remembers she's supposed to pout and types something into her scroll.

_I don't wanna play this game anymore._

Roman floats down towards her and hums.

“Me too. If our illustriously scary boss doesn't come back tonight we'll try cutting for it.”

“Take me with you.”

Neo and Roman freeze. The wisp rotates slowly and Neo pops her head sideways and raises an eyebrow.

Emerald stands herself firmly in the doorway, eyes hard and Mercury gagging behind her.

“Take me.”

She took one look at the mess and found the moment her life went wrong, Roman guessed.

“Neo, your opinion?”

She tilts her head with a cruel tease in her eyes. Roman already knows what she's going to say. She's partial towards the fellow illusionist. Neo nods, but then she points at Mercury in question.

“Kid?”

Mercury looks between them, Neo in question, Roman a floating fireball and Emerald hiding her hopefulness. He registers that running away is a thing that is happening and a blankness goes over his face.

“I don't know.”

Roman spurts some harmless flame in Mercury's direction.

“That's practically a yes kid. Change of plans people, we'll run for it now.”

Emerald eased and Mercury put on a cocky grin.

“Mistral's covered in this shit too, Atlas and Vale are an automatic out. How do you guys feel about a little desert scenery?”

Mercury scoffs, Emerald grins and Neo adapts a look of horror.

Roman just laughs.


End file.
